"Every day you guys look worse and worse. And today you played like tomorrow.” - John Mariucci, 1956 US Olympic Team Hockey CoachCHRISTIAN KRAMER-JOHNSON! Man-o-man can you stand on your head. Mr. Wrangler Goalie faced 60 shots. If we could only have the 1st period back... "CKJ" faced 21 shots in the 1st period and let 4 in. For the rest of the game he closed the door to the Wrangler net. 2nd period he faced an amazing 26 shots and didn't let any in. Then for the 3rd period he fought off a mere 13 shots and once again didn't let any in. If you generally figure that for every 5 shots one goes in, the score could have been 12-0 but instead it was only 4-0. Way to go Christian, your effort made sure that the Wranglers kept some respect. You get my 1st star.
The Wranglers offense made a whopping 15 shots for the whole game - 9 1st period, 4 2nd period, and TWO 3rd period. That is just awful offensive production. From what I saw, but I'm just a fan not an official observer, the Wrangler "D" made most of the shots. (Chase probably got credit for the lone 2 shots on goal in the 3rd period.) Also, it seemed that the Wrangler "D" were the only ones to move the puck into the Generals zone. Besides CKJ the Wrangler "D" kept the Wranglers in the game. Secondly, behind not making any shots, there was no offense. I'm here to tell you, it is not Pee Wee or Squirt hockey where you can carry the puck down the ice. So many times I saw the Generals simply skate up and steal the puck from a Wrangler. It was just so frustrating to watch. I looked for the "No Passing Zone" sign in the rink but couldn't find it, but obviously a few of the Wranglers saw it. You know what, if you pass the puck around it makes it harder to steal the puck. It also spreads the defense out increasing your chance to score. Again, didn't you all learn this in Pee Wee's or Squirt's? Now, the only reason I can figure you don't pass is because: One, you don't trust your line mate (understandable the lines keep on getting mixed up); Two, you don't know who to pass to (Ok, I'll buy that, the lines keep on getting mixed up); And, three, you are a "showboater." I don't believe any Wranglers have earned "showboat" status. If I were the coach you'd be benched.
From what I heard and saw was that the Generals were targeting a few Wranglers. A pretty poor butt-ending to defenseman Losey. Hopefully he's okay. He gets tonight's Energizer Bunny Award of "takes a licking and keeps on ticking."And, the Generals tried to harass and threaten Chase because in the first period he face-washed and cross-checked the General's European pretty boy Frei. Hey! It's hockey and part of the game is getting into your opponent's head to disrupt their game. Chase gets the second star. From what I've seen all season, the General's like to play a bit of dirty hockey; they didn't earn over 1,070 penalty minutes for fair play. They earned those penalty minutes. Finally, if I awarded a 3rd star it would go to either Long or Summa, I thought they played a good game.
One bright spot, although not too bright, in fact a dim glimmer, was that I did start to see some consistency in the lines. I hope they keep them and don't try to "mix it up." I just don't think mixing up the lines is needed, especially this late in the season. I did notice and was surprised that the Wranglers were playing with a pretty short bench. I didn't see Miller or Guzman play, so what's up with that? Will they play tomorrow night? Obviously they must have done some antics to get scratched. I hope that Losey returns tomorrow night, but we'll see. Vaitaitas is out for the next game for his "butt-ending" antics. The two new players from Puget Sound (Waterbury & K?) got some ice time and did okay.
Well, hopefully the Wranglers can put this behind them, make some passes, generate some offense, shoot at the net (not the goalie), and score tomorrow night. Again, wouldn't that be sweet, a juicy win over Eugene. You can only hope... GO WRANGLERS!
